Fathers' Club

A Letter From The President:

Welcome to the Fathers’ Club

The Fathers’ Club is an organization that includes all fathers and guardians of STA cadets. By the nature of your son attending Saint Thomas Academy, you are part of the Club! The primary mission of the Fathers’ Club is to support the faculty and staff in fulfilling the mission of the school – helping our boys develop into young men of character. We do this by demonstrating faith, leadership and service, being involved in the boy’s school life where and when we can and supporting the activities and interests of our sons and those of their Academy brothers. Our goal is to do that while getting to know the other dads at the school and occasionally having a good time ourselves…

We can use your help! We are involved many activities at the school throughout the year. Reach out to me or to any of the fathers on the team to ask about how you can get involved. We are looking forward to getting to know you and your son.

John Gainor
2021-2022 President

Calendar

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MISSION AND TRADITION:

MISSION AND TRADITION:

The overall mission of the Fathers' Club has always been threefold:

To support the goals and mission of the school;
To support our sons in an effort to enhance their overall experience while at Saint Thomas Academy; and
To provide a positive leadership role model for our sons.

The Fathers' Club continues that mission and the tradition of providing interactive events that enhance the Saint Thomas Academy experience for the fathers and boys of our community, as well as for Saint Thomas Academy families and the greater Saint Thomas Academy community. All Fathers' Club activities are intended to be consistent with and support each of the school's goals and to provide positive role modeling as we develop our sons to be young men of dignity, integrity and respect.

Events are usually dads-only or joint events with the Saint Thomas Academy Mothers' Club, providing an opportunity to get to know each other and to better understand and appreciate the greater Saint Thomas Academy community. Our membership meetings throughout the school year provide an opportunity to hear about Saint Thomas Academy policy, programming, and academics from the administration and academic staff, as well as a chance to discuss issues of concern to help direct Fathers' Club initiatives and activities.

The Shield - Symbolizes our duty to protect and keep our kids free from harm.

The Square - We must take an active, measured, and deliberate role in building our sons into fine young men. We recognize and call upon St. Joseph the Carpenter as our role model.

The Cannon - A depiction of the Father’s Club mascot, ‘Cadet Thunder’. Built and donated to the STA Ranger Team in 2016 to create excitement, rally enthusiasm, and honor our heritage at STA games and events.

The Two Crosses - Pulled the official Crest to demonstrate our commitment and acknowledge our foundation in the traditions of Saint Thomas Academy.

Events

First Friday Masses

Saint Thomas Academy Chapel

A long standing STA Fathers’ Club tradition is the First Friday Mass. This 20-25 minute mass followed by coffee & pastries is a great way to start the day and a great faith example to our sons. Fr. Pavlak’s homilies are always thought provoking and memorable. It is an especially great way for dads’ and sons to start their day together at Mass.

Fathers' Club Meeting

The Fathers’ Club meets regularly to plan events throughout the year, to engage with the school and to build community amongst the dads and guardians of Cadets. We hold quarterly General Assembly meetings where we welcome all fathers to attend to get updates about STA and to hear from speakers both inside and outside the Academy halls.

We also hold monthly planning meetings. Whether you want to get more engaged with the Fathers’ Club or just hear about what is being planned for the year, please consider joining us for these meetings and get to know the guys.

Meeting dates will be updated regularly on the calendar on the Fathers’ Club page, and reminders will be sent in the weekly newsletter from the school.

Military Ball Valet and Smoker

Fathers' Club valet parking is a long-standing tradition and one of our most volunteered-for events each year. Arriving early for camaraderie and some helpful instructions, we then greet the Cadets and their dates at Flynn Hall entrance before parking their cars. Available roles include: Traffic Directors, Valets, Golf Cart Drivers, and Key Masters. Once the cars are parked, the fathers head down to the FC garage for a well-deserved barbeque cooked up by our famed Grill Masters!

Spotlight Events

One highly visible role of the Fathers’ Club is the “Spotlight Event”. The Fathers’ Club is now in our tenth year of attempting to master the perfect hamburger on our rolling grill – the Holy Smoker. We cook burgers for families, fans and participants of home games and big events throughout the school year.

Any sport or activity can request a "Spotlight” and with the help of volunteer fathers we will show up with a grill crew to support the Cadets. The goal is to encourage families to come early, eat dinner with friends, and show community spirit!

Mother/Son Dance

There are few relationships in young man’s life more sacred than that with his mother. At St Thomas Academy, we recognize the importance of this bond, and while we value parental influence year-round, we emphasize and celebrate one night in particular for mom. The Mother Son Dinner Dance is the Father’s Club highlight event of the year, where mothers and sons dress to the 9’s and enjoy an evening of good food, dancing music and most of all, quality time with each other.

Father/Son Banquet

Annual Fathers' Club Awards:

The Archbishop John R. Roach Volunteer Award:

This award was established soon after the passing of the Archbishop in honor of his memory and his many lasting contributions to the school. Archbishop Roach was a professor, dean of students, and founder and headmaster of the Academy in Mendota Heights.

Each year the Fathers’ Club honors an individual volunteer who has demonstrated uncommon leadership and effort in the betterment of the school.

Previous Archbishop John R. Roach Volunteer Award Recipients:

1996 – Bob Lannan
1997 – John O’Keefe
1998 – Pat McCarthy
1999 – Ken Petschel
2000 – Tom Raih
2001 – John Greving
2002 – Jim Mulrooney ’61
2003 – Bill Makens
2004 – Frank Lang and Gene Nelson
2005 – Tim Marrinan ’63
2006 – Rosemary Mossberg
2007 – Suzy Urick
2008 – Joe Jansen '83
2009 – Bill Sullivan '69
2010 – John McDonald, Jr. '73 (posthumously)
2011 – Mary Pat FitzPatrick
2012 – Joe Nuñez '77
2013 – Mike Peterson
2014 – Jim Weichert
2015 – Sharon D'Agostino
2016 – Thor & Paula Raarup
2017 – Monica Strout (posthumously)
2018 – Ken Weisenburger
2019 - Kelly Rowe
2020 - Paul Schmidt
2021 - Scott Applebaum
2022 - Tania & Jack Koegel

The Michael Rongitsch Faculty Award:

This award was established after the untimely passing of Mike Rongitsch, beloved STA mathematics teacher and coach, to honor an STA faculty or staff member who best exemplifies the spirit of the Academy and honors the memory of Mike.

Previous Michael Rongitsch Faculty Award Recipients:
2005 – Dave Bassett ’62
2006 – Bill Culbertson
2007 – Dave Ziebarth
2008 – CW4 Paul Preblich
2009 – Caroline Little
2010 – Josh Kaeppe
2011 – Mike Byrne '63
2012 – Wendy Fox
2013 – Julius Tangwe
2014 – LTC Mike DePuglio
2015 – Tom Klein '89
2016 – Tom Weber
2017 – Jean Williams
2018 – Doug Hoverson
2019 - Erick Westerback
2020 - SFC Douglas Hurd
2021 - STA Faculty and Staff
2022 - Father Mark Pavlak

The Nicholas Masciopinto '03 Leadership Award:

This award memorializes the life of Nicholas Masciopinto ’03, who taught us how to live, laugh and learn fully, without judgment or prejudice and with hope, faith and perseverance.

This award is given to a junior student, who, through dedicated and disciplined commitment, has exercised his talents to the betterment of the Academy and the community at large.

Previous Nicholas Masciopinto '03 Leadership Award Recipients:
2007 – Matthew Miley ’08
2008 – Ryan Robinson '09
2009 – Conor McFadden '10
2010 – Patrick Griffin '11
2011 – Matthew Goldammer '12
2012 – Nicholas Waldvogel '13
2013 – Brock Carlson '14
2014 – Connor Knapp '15
2015 – Nate Chaffee '16
2016 – Jakob Michel '17
2017 – Cam Cashin '18
2018 - Thomas Thurlow '19
2019 - Nicholas Tucci '20
2020 - Jack Sexton '21
2021 - Robert Cunningham '22
2022 - Emmett Wolf '23

Meet our Advisory Board Members & Class Reps!

We welcome all fathers who would like to participate in the Fathers’ Club planning team. We have a number of events that are chaired by dads that could use a co-chair to help out and to learn the role. We would also like each class to have several Class Reps, whose role is to engage with their son’s class to encourage class spirit and involvement in activities. Think about joining the team!

Fathers’ Club Advisory Board

President – John Gainor
Past President Advisor – Todd Corbo
Consigliere – Jack Koegel
Communication – Jason Kelecic
Treasurer – Eric Backstrom
Mother/Son Dance Chair – Craig Trammell
Father/Son Banquet Chair – Lester Bagley
First Friday Mass/Hospitality Chair – David Fox
Trivia Night Chair – Mark Korf
Spotlight Chair – Tom Audette
Spotlight Grill Masters – Josh Rivera and Chris French

Class Representatives

2022
Scott Card
Todd Corbo
Mark Korf
Mike Sabre

2023
Kevin Davis
Tony DelDotto
John Gainor
John Pollard

2024
James Carver
Rich Hanousek
Jack Koegel
Shawn Meyer

2025
Peter Bonfe
Matt Collins
Leonel Dorvil
Franz Macedo

2026
Eric Backstrom

2027
Cole Turnbow
Phil Cattanach

2028
Boyd Candee

Please contact any of us if you have any questions or requests related to specific events, (We are in the School Directory)

Current Families

Prospective Families

Community