The spirit of Santa Claus is alive in the Seattle Prep community within the loving relationships between coaches and team members, teachers and students, and directors and cast mates. The Panther asked people who their “Santa figure” was at Prep and found that many people had a lot of admiration for their role models on campus.

Kyle Rauzi ’18 – Alex Flor (football teammate): everything he does, he does it with a great attitude. He’s always been a great leader and starts what he finishes, whether that’s something academic or something athletic.

Mayme Krueger ’19 – Mr. Othman (director): he treats us all to really bad puns on a daily basis. His roasts during rehearsal are also really funny.

Dominic Ferro ’19 – Henry Hazzard (cast mate): he’s so incredibly nice and not afraid to be ridiculous. I have math with him and he’s never afraid to ask a question, and in rehearsals he’s super supportive.

Julia Oles ’20 – Mr. Chism (security guard): he’s so warm and friendly and always says hi to me in the hallways and gives me a high five. He asks me how my day was, and is just such a great guy.

Ms. Borgen – Mrs. Lovejoy (co-librarian): she embodies the spirit of helpfulness and giving. Every time that I need to be out of the library for whatever reason, she just says, “go and do what you need to do.” It’s always good to rely on someone like that.

Coach Scott – Ms. Bernal (coworker/friend): she’s like the Energizer Bunny. She’s always involved and always available to students to help in whatever they need. She goes to give a hand even though many times she’s stretched very thin, and she does it joyfully.

Jules Hancock ’18 – Madeleine Kopf-Patterson ’18 (friend): She’s super inspiring, very nice, super understanding, always there for me, and pretty selfless.

Dean Abenojar ’20 – Mr. Mack (community ministry): He finds a way to make something boring turn fun and that’s great because having fun is the easiest way to learn.

Sam Hoyt ’18 – Emma Cooney ’18 (friend): she is always a positive energy in my life. We sit at the same table during our free period and we just chat and she’s bubbly.

Lauren Royce ’21 – Kirsti Rochon (swim coach): she’s really encouraging to everyone and when I showed up, I didn’t know much about swimming but she was super helpful and really understanding. She really cares about the team.

Evan Shoemaker ’20 – Elisa Simon ’19 (crew teammate): she does more activities in and out of school than I’ve ever heard of, well, while also being one of the nicest people I’ve met. This weekend in California, it was dinner time and everyone had taken their seats but it worked out that there was no spare chair so I just sat down by myself, and she invited me to take up a chair at her table.

Wyatt del Valle ’20 – Sheila Mallahan (biology teacher): she has always made science really engaging for me. She’s given me the opportunity and encouragement to really investigate the things I’m interested in to help make a difference. Also through her own actions, she has given a lot to the Prep community by running Kairos retreats and to our global community by helping people gain access to food through a charity she runs with her husband.

Grace Cooney ’21 – the seniors: they constantly take care of me and ask me about my day, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect for senior-freshmen relationships, but even people I barely know are nice to me.

Mr. Burks – Mr. Niggemeyer (coworker): he’s got a great sense of humor, he’s really well-spoken, he teaches physics, and he’s a track coach! He’s coached every event in track and field.

Cameron Osterman ’21 – Ethan Osterman ’18 (brother): he tries hard in school and it pays off. He’s just a well-rounded person and super humble.

Mr. Arthur – the quiet, hardworking student in class: the student who works hard, is not very comfortable sharing in class, who is quiet but full of creativity and ideas. That’s the person who inspires me to be a better teacher.