Kolbecast

98 Stewards of the Mission

AMDG.  Last week, we heard from the deans.  This week, we visit with the metaphorical bosses upstairs: Chief Academic Officer Megan Lengyel and directors Nicole O’Connor and Tony Guzzaldo.  With both reflection on the past and excitement for the future, the group discusses their love for Kolbe’s mission, the roles of various academic officers, how teachers are selected and what formation they participate in once within the Kolbe fold, and how Kolbe has responded to the challenges any growing organization faces as it expands.  They also share a few exciting announcements about department chairs for next year as part of their goal to foster an online learning environment infused with the faith and alive with community and friendship.
Relevant Kolbecast episodes to check out:
Episode 97 Advocates and Bridge Builders with Deans of Students Ashley Massey, Kelly Powers, and Elizabeth Hoxie
Tony mentions his discovery of the Cardinal Newman Society in his quest to determine what a proper Catholic education looks like. Society founder Patrick Reilly is featured on episode 84 about that very topic.
Lengyel announces some more appointments for next year. Some of those have been Kolbecast guests:
Therese Prudlo on episodes 15 Asparagus Moments, 36 Embrace the Fifth Day, 37 Take a Moment, 64 Stricken by Ideas
Katie Bradley on episode 89 The Master Blueprint
Nick Senz on episode 91 Kernels of Truth
Episodes 81 The When and the How of Online Elementary and 82 Move and Groove go in depth on the online elementary program and how parents can partner with teachers.
Check out the online academy’s conceptual framework. For more information about career opportunities at Kolbe, click here.
To learn about or apply for financial assistance from Kolbe Academy, click here. For the 2022-23 school year, apply by May 15, 2022.
There are several ways to support Kolbe financially, including
designating Kolbe Academy, Napa CA, as your Amazon Smilerecipient – a percentage of all your Amazon purchases will go to aid Kolbe in its mission.
matching gifts from employers – email Kolbe’s Development Director (and Kolbecast co-host!) Steven Hayden for more information.
one-time gifts or monthly contributions – use this link
Mrs. Megan Lengyel and Mrs. Nicole O’Connor have graced Kolbecast episodes 30 Guiding the Ship and 69 Temperature Check with Mr. Everett Buyarski and can be heard on Ep 50 Cast Party along with Therese Prudlo and several others.
Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app, where you can subscribe and never miss an episode. If you have a moment to leave a ratings and review, that will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.
Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org.
Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

97 Advocates & Bridge Builders

AMDG. With growth come both opportunity and challenge. As Kolbe Academy has grown, so too have the needs of the community. Part of the way Kolbe is addressing these needs is through the appointment of deans for the elementary, middle, and high school divisions. In this episode, we visit with familiar voices Ashley Massey, Elizabeth Hoxie, and Kelly Powers to find out what they as deans do for Kolbe and how families benefit from these advocates who are working to bring the Kolbe family together.
This episode touches on Kolbe’s revamped and expanded homeroom program, which listeners can hear about in more detail on Kolbecast episode 87 Home Base.
Previous Kolbecast episodes featuring today’s guests:
Ep 21 To Live Fully Alive with Elizabeth Hoxie
Ep 33 Show Your Work with Kelly Powers
Ep 47 Among the Pots and Pans with Kelly Powers and Chris Bates
Ep 66 Bonhomie à la Kolbe with Ashley Massey and Kim Crawford
Ep 68 Grace for the Nitty Gritty with Ashley Massey and Celeste Cuellar
Ep 89 The Master Blueprint with Elizabeth Hoxie, Ann Still, and Katie Bradley
Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app, where you can subscribe and never miss an episode. If you have a moment to leave a ratings and review, that will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.
Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org.
Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

96 Adults in Training

AMDG.  Have you ever contemplated the idea that you’re not raising children, you’re raising adults?  Katherine O’Brien, a certified college planning specialist and homeschooling mother of six (most now in adulthood), joins Bonnie and Steven today to discuss how to be intentional with opportunities for high schoolers to learn the logistics of life.  Topics in the conversation include practicalities of parenting teenagers, the difficult but necessary discipline of giving kids space and affirmation when making mistakes, and preparing for tough conversations with the anchoring phrase “I love you. How can I help?”
Sign up here for Kolbe’s spring Virtual College Fair on Friday, April 29, 2022. After the event, look for recordings of the presentations on the Kolbe Academy YouTube channel.
For more information about Katherine O’Brien, check out
her company Celtic College Consultants
her blog College Prep Answer Guide
her radio program The Quo Vadis Show
For videos of the 2021 fall Virtual College Fair, start here. The keynote speakers for that event have also been guests on the Kolbecast:
Ep 38 Substance Matters with Jeremy Tate of the Classic Learning Test
Ep 84 The Essence of Catholic Education with Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society
Other Kolbecast episodes related to college and life after Kolbe:
Ep 39 Reclaiming the Territory and Ep 40 Windshield Time with Dr. Don Prudlo
Ep 59 The Secret Whiteboard with Everett Buyarski & Erica Treat
Ep 77 The Road Less Traveled with Celeste Cuellar
Ep 85 Vibrant Campus Ministries
Ep 92 Protect, Guide, Prepare, Empower
Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app, where you can subscribe and never miss an episode. If you have a moment to leave a ratings and review, that will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.
Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org.
Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

95 Conversation Starters

AMDG. Imagine yourself in a queue of people awaiting some event. Your eyes land on someone sporting an image of St. Padre Pio with the words “Hakuna Matata” juxtaposed near the saint’s likeness. Or maybe you arrive at your next meeting only to notice a colleague sporting some socks that initially might pass for snazzy but upon closer inspection reveal flowers and images of St. Therese of Lisieux. Moments like these have been catalysts to conversations that serve as conduits of evangelization and connection. Who would’ve thought to create and market such products? The folks at Sock Religious, including co-founder Scott Williams and operations director Jeff Traylor – our guests on this episode. Listen in for what got the quirky, punny idea got off the ground, how they make it work, and what motivates them to operate the business the way they do. We also hear about their podcast All Set for Sunday, a weekly show for – as they say – “busy or distracted parents to be a little more prepared for Sunday Mass.” Many of us can relate.
Check out Sock Religious for yourself.
Kolbe deeply appreciates the donation Sock Religious made during Catholic Schools Week to Kolbe’s financial assistance program. There are other ways to support Kolbe financially, including
designating Kolbe Academy, Napa CA, as your Amazon Smilerecipient – a percentage of all your Amazon purchases will go to aid Kolbe in its mission.
matching gifts from employers – email Kolbe’s Development Director (and Kolbecast co-host!) Steven Hayden for more information.
one-time gifts or monthly contributions – use this link (
For more information about or to apply for financial assistance from Kolbe Academy, click here. For the 2022-23 school year, apply by May 15, 2022.
Kolbecast episodes mentioned in this episode:
Ep 88 Built for Battle with Jonathan Conrad, the Catholic Woodworker
Ep 71 A Sight for Sore Eyes with Chris Lewis of Baritus Illustration
Ep 90 Vocations Here, Now, and Eventually
Ep 94 A Boy, A Book, and a Library Mouse
Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app, where you can subscribe and never miss an episode. If you have a moment to leave a ratings and review, that will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.
Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org.
Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

94 A Boy, a Book, and a Library Mouse

AMDG.  The one area of life where gravity doesn’t quite apply is head knowledge and heart knowledge—in formation, even for young children, the heart is the most important piece.  Today Joan Claire FitzPatrick, Jamie Leatherby, and Michelle Kim join Bonnie and Steven to discuss how Catechesis of the Good Shepherd uses beauty and child-led engagement to bring children to God.  The ladies explain how CGS uses an “atrium” as part of its approach for children to gain discipline in their bodies while learning to care for themselves and their environment.  They illustrate the theological and historical significance of the program and the goal of evoking joy and peace.  And if all of this sounds a bit unattainable or precious, fear not: they also touch on ways to take stress off parents and make the program fit your family.
Relevant links:
For more information about this program, visit the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd website.
A is for Altar, B is for Bible by Judith Lang Main
Michelle can be heard on Kolbecast episode #70 First Draft: A Parent In-Service with Chrissy Almanzar and on episode #87 Home Base with fellow homeroom instructors Kim Crawford, Jenni Mammola, and Brittany Doucette.
Joan Claire and Jamie were instrumental in the success of the 2022 Vocations Retreat, selected sessions of which are available here.
Look for the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app, where you can subscribe and never miss an episode. If you have a moment to leave a rating and review, that will help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.
Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org.
Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

93 Good Thinking

AMDG.  What do jazz music, Thomas Aquinas, and Nietzsche have in common?  Listen to this week’s episode and find out as Dr. Carl Hasler and current Kolbe students Hannah, Luke, and Teresa talk with Bonnie and Jordan about Kolbe’s philosophy course and club.  They share their insights on why the philosophy course and club are worthwhile even though philosophy is woven throughout Kolbe’s history, literature, and theology classes; describe how enriching a basis in philosophical discourse can be; and touch on what distinguishes the philosophy club from a debate club.
If you’ve already enrolled for next year and would like to add the philosophy course to your schedule, use this course change form. Information about the PTA club will come from Kolbe next school year.
Related Kolbecast episodes:
Hasler’s Kolbecast debut on episode 64 Stricken by Ideas with Kolbe history instructor Mrs. Therese Prudlo
Kolbecast Ep 91 Kernels of Truth with Kolbe theology instructors Mrs. Chrissy Almanzar and Mr. Nicholas Senz
Subscribe to the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and never miss an episode! While you’re there, please leave a quick rating and review to help other listeners find the Kolbecast.
Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org.
Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

92 Protect, Guide, Prepare, Empower

AMDG.  If you’re a hesitant homeschooler or unconvinced parent considering homeschooling, put this episode at the top of your playlist.  Today Cathy and Nicolai Lund—parents of two Kolbe alumnae and one current Kolbe high schooler—join Bonnie and Steven to share their experience with candor, humor, and encouragement.  They share their rough start: how Cathy felt unequipped, how Nicolai undermined his wife, and how people told them they would destroy their children if they chose to homeschool.  And they share the bounty that they have experienced from homeschooling: the ways it fostered growth in marriage and family life, the travel the Lund family was able to do with their flexible schedules, and the foundation that homeschooling with Kolbe built for their daughters to go out into the world to find answers and truth.  The conversation also touches on positive college experiences at non-liberal arts schools such as Berkeley as well as the ever-present socialization question.
Meet daughters Aviva in Kolbecast episode #26 Truth Is a Person and Martina in episode #76 Study Buddies.
Kolbe academic advisors can help families navigate the NCAA guidelines for homeschooled students. Set up an advising appointment via this link.
Subscribe to the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and never miss an episode! While you’re there, please leave a quick rating and review to help other listeners find the Kolbecast.
Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org.
Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.   

91 Kernels of Truth

AMDG.  We’ve talked before about the distinction between learning theology as a school subject and learning to be a faithful Catholic in our current world.  We explore this concept in greater nuance on today’s episode as Chrissy Almanzar and Nicholas Senz discuss Kolbe’s new world religions course, which surveys religions from Hinduism to Shintoism to the Abrahamic faiths and more.  Chrissy and Nick discuss finding elements of truth in these world religions and how that connects to the fullness of truth contained in the Catholic faith.  They also explain how engaging other ideas leads to a more nuanced discussion of our own faith, why fear of studying other religions is misplaced, and the way commonalities across religions point in a certain direction while leveling the playing field.
Three Church documents to be used in the World Religions course which parents might find helpful as a preview:
Ad gentes - on the mission activity of the Church
Nostra aetate - declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions
Unitatis redintegratio - decree on ecumenism
If you’ve already enrolled for next year and would like to add the course to your schedule, use this course change form.
Links mentioned and relevant:
recent presentation by Mrs. Prudlo & Mrs. Hayes on Ukraine
Jordan and Chrissy Almanzar on Kolbecast Ep 48 Because It Rings True
Find writing by Nick Senz on Aleteia and Catholic World Report, among other publications
A sample of the World Religions textbook to be used in the course
Subscribe to the Kolbecast in your favorite podcast app and never miss an episode! While you’re there, please leave a quick rating and review to help the Kolbecast reach more listeners.
Have a suggestion or question for the Kolbecast team? Write to us at podcast@kolbe.org.
Interested in Kolbe Academy’s offerings? Visit kolbe.org.