Hope for the Future
Dear Mater Dei Community,
Spring is in the air and we see glimpses of new life and hope. In this month's newsletter we share details about our students preparing for their future after high school, our instructors preparing for the future growth of Mater Dei, and our great hope in the future of our Church in general. Thank you for your continued support of our apostolate as we grow! May God bless you as we enter into the Easter Season.
++
Ad Jesum Per Mariam
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Day-to-day at Mater Dei
As we journeyed together through the Lenten season, we were thankful as we considered the solidarity we enjoy in our Catholic environment at Mater Dei. Students are free to live out and express their Catholic faith without feeling threatened or ashamed. This allows their faith to grow and flourish. It has been beautiful to see the transformation of these students in just a few short years. They give us great hope for the future of the Church!
Our sophomore students dissected fetal pigs as part of the animal biology unit. Comparisons of organ systems were made to human anatomy. This was a highly anticipated lab for the students and there was a high level of participation and enthusiasm. They may have even played limbo with a ten-foot section of small intestine, much to the horror of Mr. Bennett.
Service Project
Our March service project took place one week after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We took the opportunity to join together in prayer, imploring the Lord for peace. We began the morning with an opportunity for Confession for the students, followed by Holy Mass offered by our Mater Dei chaplain, Fr. Joel Hastings. After Mass, Fr. Hastings led us in a Holy Hour of Adoration in which we prayed the rosary together and offered our own silent prayers for the intentions of a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine. Our prayers and sacrifices are the best kind of service project.
Senior Seminar
We were blessed to host a "Senior Seminar" for our Mater Dei students, families, and the entire community. Our guest speakers Celeste Cuellar, Zach Bennett, Betsy Kneepkens, and Father Nick Nelson, each shared the story of their own college, career and vocational discernment after high school. After the presentations, we took questions from live viewers covering a range of topics, including college visits, gap years, military enlistment, religious vocations, financial aid, mission work, and career discernment. The discussion was a great way to aid the students in their own discernment process, as they prepare for their future life after high school.
New Instructors
As we make preparations to add an additional grade next year, our first year with a full 9-12th grade, we are excited about the new instructors joining our team. The bios of two of our senior-year instructors, Brady Kamphenkel and Loran Wappes, are listed below. We welcome them with great joy! We will continue to introduce our new Mater Dei instructors in the months to come.
Brady Kamphenkel
AP English Literature & Composition
Brady received his Bachelors of Arts in Humanities from the College of St. Scholastica and his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing/Poetry from the University of Southern Maine–Stonecoast, where his research centered on English verse prosody and Modernist poetics. He has taught at the collegiate level at Lake Superior College and the College of St. Scholastica, in the areas of composition and rhetoric studies, English literature, and creative writing. An accomplished poet, Brady is known for his work published in journals such as 2River, SLANT, The Northern New England Review and Cave Wall. He currently resides in Duluth. Brady is excited to teach English Literature & Composition to the excellent students of Mater Dei.
Loran Wappes
AP Physics
Loran received his Bachelor’s of Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota before beginning his career in the space program at General Dynamics, where he worked on the research and development of an innovative power distribution system for the International Space Station under contracts with NASA. In other projects, Loran worked on the research and design of an all-electric rocket engine gimbaling system for heavy-lift, launch vehicles. His rocket engineering extended to avionics circuitry design on the Atlas launch vehicles. During his time living in San Diego, Loran also began to pursue a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering at San Diego State University. With two young children at the time, he and his wife, Connie, escaped from San Diego and moved to Cloquet, where Loran became the first Chief Information Officer of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Since his retirement in 2019, Loran has enjoyed substitute teaching at Queen of Peace Catholic School and teaching enrichment programs focused on electricity and computer programming. He also plays volleyball and has coached at the high school and collegiate level. Most importantly, he loves spending time with his grandchildren. Loran is excited to begin teaching at Mater Dei, where he hopes to share his love of exploring the order of the physical world to reveal the beauty that God has created.