09/17/2026
💛🏈 THE SECRET IS OUT! 🏈💛
There are some moments where you look around and realize just how many people are thinking about, praying for, and investing in your students. Today was one of those moments.
What everyone saw today was a beautiful new space—but what they didn’t see were the months of planning, phone calls, meetings, conversations, measurements, ideas, changes, emails, and so many people asking one very important question: “What can we do for these kids?”
And today, we finally got to share the answer. ❤️
Through Extra Yard for Teachers , School Specialty, Notre Dame Fighting Irish Athletics and ACE - Alliance for Catholic Education , our Father Jacobs Hall cafeteria and kitchen received an incredible $50,000 transformation! New cafeteria tables, new serving counters, and even more improvements still to come in October!
This happened because a LOT of people came together with our students at the center of it all—the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic Schools Office, the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame Athletics, School Specialty, the College Football Playoff Foundation, and so many others who helped dream, plan, coordinate, move, build, organize, and make today possible.
And then somehow, after keeping this HUGE secret, we got to watch our students walk in and see it. 🥹
But apparently, there was one more secret being kept… and this time, it was from Miss G. ❤️
During today’s celebration, Kelly Robinson of the College Football Playoff Foundation called Miss G our Early Learning, Communication, and Development Director to the front and surprised her with $1,000 for classroom supplies, recognizing her commitment to the students and families of St. John the Baptist.
For someone who spends so much of her time advocating, planning, talking about our students, sharing their stories, and making sure people know just how special St. John’s is, this was a moment she certainly wasn’t expecting. And yes… there were tears. 🥹
Afterward, Miss G shared something that seemed to capture not only that moment, but so much of what has been happening at St. John’s:
“It takes a tiny voice to become a big leader, and they heard my tiny voice.”
She went on to share, “St. John’s is becoming something that everybody’s going to know about. We’re not just a school on the west side—we’re a private school making big movements.”
And today felt like one of those big movements. ❤️
To every single person who had a conversation, sat in a meeting, made a phone call, moved a table, worked behind the scenes, donated time or resources, listened to one of those tiny voices advocating for our kids, or simply believed that the students of St. John the Baptist were worth investing in—thank you.
Our kids deserve spaces that tell them, without ever saying a word:
“You matter. You are loved. People believe in you.”
Today, they got to see just how many people do. ❤️
We are so incredibly grateful. And we cannot WAIT to show you more!
🙏 “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” — James 1:17
