By Olivia Rinaldi ’23:
At this year’s commencement exercise, Sean Cannon and Giavonna DeBono were honored with the very highly regarded Edward J. Dunn Student-Athlete Award given to the one male and one female athlete who display the qualities of the most outstanding student-athletes of their class. 
These qualities that Kellenberg hopes to instill in its student-athletes include resilience, leadership, and determination to name a few. High school athletics plays a significant role in shaping students’ overall development, both physically and mentally. Engaging in sports activities for four consecutive years can be a transformative experience, fostering much growth both on and off the field. As we reflect on the accumulation of these four years, we discover the profound impact that high school athletics has had on the class of 2023.
Together, we reveled in tremendous victory and tasted the bitterness of heartbreaking loss. Through every up and down the Firebird family has made no mistake of remaining as one. We come together at the end of every season to recognize the athletes of each team who have gone above and beyond what it means to wear Kellenberg across their chests. Teams decide to make impacts, reaching out to their communities, fundraising for a cause, or simply serving as a mentor and coaches during a summer camp on the Kellenberg grounds.
The dedication of our student-athletes transcends the field and into the weight room. This is where you’ll find some of Kellenberg’s most devoted Firebirds pushing themselves to their full potential every day.
But our athletes do not have to walk alone in their journeys as a Firebird. As we compete against rival schools, the entire student body rallies behind us, creating a vibrant atmosphere of support and unity. Kellenberg’s 12th Man student section was named as one of the top five student sections in the state of New York in an article by The Student Section Report. This is just one of the many ways the Kellenberg student body exemplifies our One Heart, One Mind motto.
Four years of participation in high school sports events fosters a sense of belonging and pride, as athletes represent their school on and off the field. Many of our student-athletes take advantage of the multitude of other clubs and activities Kellenberg has to offer. Many are even chosen to be leaders among their peers as Senior Marianist Leaders, Eucharistic Ministers, and leaders of Retreat Staff. In the classroom, Firebirds are just as loyal to their studies as they are to their teams. In the 2022-2023 school year, our student-athletes earned an overall 93.4% average or a 4.0 GPA, a true testament to Firebird’s academic excellence.
For our Lady Firebirds Volleyball team, victory and team comradery were no stranger to the group. Senior Chloe Rachello reflects upon her athletic career at Kellenberg with high regard. She says, “Playing a sport at KMHS is incomparable to playing for any other school or club. You are taught that who you are as a person is more important than the performance you put out on the court. You are trained to have discipline and to do the little things right and taught to build upon those things.”
Chloe and the Lady Firebirds put up a perfect undefeated 2022 season, winning the NYSHSAA championship with grit and passion. When asked about the impact playing a sport at Kellenberg has had on her, Chloe says,“It is impossible to be around the kind of atmosphere that is created and not fall more in love with your sport every single day. If you told me 4 years ago that I would be playing volleyball in college, I would never believe it, but the love for the sport that was created in the Kellenberg gym was not something I was ready to give up”.
The gratitude our student-athletes have for Kellenberg athletics is unwavering and passionate. We the athletes owe everything to Kellenberg for the remarkable four years the class of 2023 has had playing the games we live for.