Feast of the Archangels

The Mount Michael community gather in the DJ Sokol Chapel on September 29th to celebrate the feast of our patron Saint Michael and the Archangels.

Fr. Daniel Lenz O.S.B. was celebrant.  More Photos

Two Mount Michael Knights are National Merit Semi-finalists; 3 Commended Students

Over 1.6 millions juniors from more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 competition. Semifinalists represent less than 1%  of high school seniors that took the test. This year Mount Michael's semifinalists are Andrew Ahn and Zach Cairney.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test. 

Update: Andrew Ahn & Zach Cairney were both named Finalists in the spring of 2017

From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.

Mount Michael is also pleased to announce that 3 knights were named commended students.  Commended students represent approximately the top 5% of students that took the exam.

Congratulations Knights!

National Merit list of Knights from previous years

61st Annual Fall Festival

What a day! A huge thank you to everyone who joined us at the 61^st Annual Mount Michael Benedictine Fall Festival.

The Fall Festival is a special event and it's always a wonderful reminder of what an amazing community we have! Thank you for volunteering your time in order to support our monastic community. Whether you volunteered at a food booth, made a donation, set-up, baked cakes, cleaned-up, helped at a game booth, loaded a hay-rack ride, tore-down, or helped a guest feel welcome -- everyone was an integral part of making the event a success!

Thank you for your support!

Fall Festival Photos - Fall Festival Photos by Fr. Daniel - Cleanup Photos

Zhang Selected as First Knight by Student Body

Three Mount Michael seniors were nominated by their fellow classmen to receive this award.  Those nominated are recognized for their strong character and discipline; their ability to place others before themselves; their vow to be loyal, generous and humble in deed; and their embodiment of the five Benedictine values of moderation, service, integrity, community and hospitality.

Those students nominated were: Zach Cairney; Caiden Groff; and Eric Zhang. The Mount Michael student body voted to determine the winner.  

Mount Michael Head of School, Dr. David J. Peters presented the First Knight Award to Eric Zhang and was accompanied by previous First Knight winners Logan Kalkowski ’15 and Michael Fisher ‘16.

The Three Nominees

Zach Cairney, the son of Brian and Susan Cairney.  Zach attended St. Vincent DePaul through 8th grade.  He is currently involved in Student Council and runs on both the Mount Michael Cross Country and Track teams. He volunteers at the St. Vincent DePaul Math Counts Club and assists with the Mathnasium.  Zach is also an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion and assists in the Chapel.   Zach plans to attend a university where he will major in Actuarial Science.

Caiden Groff, the son of Aaron and Melissa Groff.   He attended St. Patrick’s in Elkhorn through the 8th Grade.  Caiden currently serves as the Mount Michael Student Body President as well as participates on the Ambassador’s Club.  He starts on the Mount Michael varsity football and baseball teams and was elected as last year’s winter sports Yell Leader.  Upon graduation, Caiden plans to attend one of the United States Service Academies.

Eric Zhang, the son of Bo and Yanrong Zhang Taiyuan, China. Eric attended middle school in his home country of China.  He is involved in the Mount Michael Student Council and competes on the Speech Team.  Eric has been a Red Cross volunteer in his native China as well as a volunteer in an Elkhorn nursing home.  Eric plans to major in Economics and attend graduate school.

2016 First Knight Eric Zhang Accompanied by Mount Michael Parents Ronald and Darci Kaps