To honor graduating high school seniors in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, The Catholic Spirit asked three Catholic high schools — DeLaSalle in Minneapolis, Bethlehem Academy in Faribault and Holy Family in Victoria — to suggest students who might share their faith journey. The three students credit their Catholic education with deepening their faith and express a commitment to living out its principles. The Catholic Spirit congratulates all 2024 high school graduates!

From sports to seminarian

Zane Christianson, DeLaSalle in Minneapolis

On May 1, Zane Christianson was at a baseball game with his DeLaSalle team. As team captain, he led his team in an Our Father before the game — a practice Christianson implemented this year.

Partway into the game, one of Christianson’s teammates accidentally threw the ball past the first baseman. The teammate was discouraged. After the play, Christianson encouraged him.

“I just went over to him (and) told him, ‘You’re fine, you’ll get the next one,’” he recounted.

The scene is emblematic of Christianson’s role at the high school, where he is set to graduate in May with a 4.11 GPA.

He credits his academic success first to God, and then to good time management skills.

“Definitely don’t waste your time, especially if you’re in activities after school and sports,” he said. “Take advantage of those opportunities during school and after school to get your work done.”

Given his many extracurricular activities, he needs good time management: In addition to baseball, Christianson also manages the basketball team, which finished third in the state this year. He is a member of the school’s National Honor Society and the society’s tutoring subcommittee, through which he offers academic tutoring.

Christianson has completed over 300 hours of service through his high school career, mainly through altar serving at school Masses and at his home parish, Epiphany in Coon Rapids. He will be honored for his service with a special cord at graduation.

After graduation he plans to enter the St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul. The desire to become a priest was fueled by the Eucharist, he said.

“Prayer time and adoration time has helped a lot, (as well as) being able to go to Mass as often as I can and … being able to carry that (faith) here and to spread it to others,” he said.

The fact that not everyone at DeLaSalle is Catholic has only stoked his desire to evangelize, which he often does in and out of the classroom.

“(At) DeLaSalle, you’re open to the real world and you’re able to see that not everybody believes what I believe,” he said. “I’ve been able to see people with different faiths and able to understand why they believe what they believe … I’m able to hopefully help them better understand why I believe in the Catholic faith.”

Christianson said that he hopes the opportunity to evangelize his non-Catholic peers will help prepare him for the priesthood. During an English class in April, one of Christianson’s classmates asked him what sin and repentance are, and Christianson was glad to explain.

“That’s just one step closer to prepare myself for that lifestyle, for that potential priest life, potential deacon or whatever God is calling me to. And even if it isn’t that, just being either a father, or if God calls me to a single life as well, just being able to spread the good news and spread the Gospel to anybody that may need it,” he said.

Leading her classmates to God

Lindsay Rauenhorst, Bethlehem Academy in Faribault

While the highlight of some high schoolers’ experience is homecoming or prom, Lindsay Rauenhorst said her favorite part of high school was living out her Catholic faith.

A soon-to-be graduate, Rauenhorst is an active member of the campus ministry team, which recently started an adoration hour after school on Mondays at Divine Mercy parish near the high school. She enjoys serving as a Eucharistic minister and sacristan during school Masses.

“I’m just grateful that I’ve been able, these past four years, to show my faith to others and grow in it,” she said. “I know you don’t get that opportunity sometimes, at some schools.”

It is a “beautiful thing” to help her classmates encounter God, she said. Once, one of her classmates was afraid to go to confession. Rauenhorst told her that “there is nothing to be afraid of because it is just between you and Jesus in there. He will forgive you no matter what if you are truly sorry.” Due to her encouragement, the classmate went to confession and emerged overjoyed, Rauenhorst said.

Rauenhorst’s faith undergirds her accomplishments in and out of the classroom. She has succeeded in college-level classes during high school, and she serves as secretary and treasurer of the school’s National Honor Society (NHS). With NHS, she has helped organize service events. A favorite recent NHS initiative was delivering Christmas presents and home essentials to a single mom and her three children, she said.

“When we delivered the gifts to that family, it was just a joy to see the smiles on their faces, especially the little kids. They were just so grateful.”

Outside of the classroom, Rauenhorst served as the tennis team captain for three of her four high school years, and this year she was a Big 9 All-Conference tennis athlete. She said that, in addition to her love of the sport, she enjoyed having the opportunity to lead others.

“(Tennis) has helped me to become a more understanding person,” she said. “I’ll have teammates come up to me with concerns, or things that they are struggling with, and by them coming up to me, it has helped me to learn how to help others better.”

Rauenhorst plans to continue playing tennis on a club team at the Ave Maria University in Florida, where she will study psychology next year. She hopes to become a speech therapist — a career which impacted her personally when she received speech therapy as a child.

“When I was choosing what I wanted to do, I knew it was going to be something to help people,” she said. “I remember the impact that my speech teacher had on me. I (hope) to leave that same impact when I become a speech therapist someday.”

Rauenhorst chose Ave Maria University because of its Catholic identity — although she said the warmer weather of Florida helped her decide, too.

Following the footsteps of her brothers

Sophia Zay, Holy Family in Victoria

Senior Sophia Zay is the picture of an outgoing and ambitious student. She has been involved in student council since freshman year and is now a co-class president; she lettered in lacrosse, basketball and tennis; and she leads food drives through the school’s National Honor Society.

But she has also encountered difficulties in her high school career. In the first three years of high school, she became close friends with some girls in the grade above her. When they graduated Holy Family when Zay was a junior, she felt isolated.

“But then I just kind of went out of my way to reach out to people and in my grade and tried to connect,” she said. “I ended up finding a really solid group of girls that I’ve become really close to.”

The confidence she has fostered in high school will set the stage for her future. She plans to attend the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University (IU), which is often ranked among the top 20 business schools in the nation. Her eldest brother recently graduated from the school and another brother will be a senior there while she is a freshman. Apart from pursuing her goals in finance, she chose the school to be close to her brothers.

Zay said she hopes to become involved in IU’s Newman Center to continue growing in her faith. The seeds of her faith were planted at St. Hubert in Chanhassen, where she attended elementary school, and sprouted at Holy Family, where she assists with school Masses.

“We usually pray every day at the beginning of class and at the end of the day on the announcements, we always end in prayer,” she said. “It is just kind of a constant reminder of my faith multiple times a day.”

Zay said she was grateful for the opportunity to learn about the faith in the classroom and put it in practice outside of the classroom.

“Just being able to take religion classes has been important because it’s helped me learn about Catholicism (and) even other religions,” she said. “Also, I get the opportunity to participate in the Mass … I’ve done a couple of readings, brought up the gifts, things like that.”

Outside of school, Zay sometimes works with a Victoria-based nonprofit, The Humanity Alliance, which provides food to those in need. Sometimes she delivers meals on the weekends.

“When I was delivering the food, it just kind of made me aware that I can make an impact by taking my time and doing something to help others in my community.”