By: Brayden Ehrman '27

The garden in front of the Sci-Tech building is not just a beautiful monument, but it is a nice way to commemorate the life of Domenico Schiano Di Cola. 

David Pakulski, head of maintenance to St. Joe’s, said, “The Garden is a beautiful remembrance to Domenico and family.”

The garden consists of many nice plants and a beautiful plaque with a nice picture of Domenico with quotes from him, there are nice words from him and his family. 

Pakulski said, “The garden is a peaceful place for everyone to enjoy.”

There were friends and family at the ceremony to celebrate the blessing of the garden with the bishop. 

Pakulski said "Relocating the statue was the hardest thing during the whole process.”

Saint Joseph High School students are very fond of the pizza joint and go over and eat after school, or even work there.

Pakulski said “The garden commemorates his life and shows that Domenico will be missed by many.” 

We are all excited to sit and relax on the benches outside of the beautiful garden and commemorate the life of Domenico. 

By: Gabby Carvens '28

Over the summer, students are out doing many things such as hanging out with friends, going on vacation, or working. What we don’t see is the stuff happening at our school behind the scenes, with the help of our faculty and staff. This summer, Principle Mrs. Minick worked along with Mr. David Widenhofer to achieve the goal of reinstating the Dean of Students position here at St. Joe’s. 

“The position for a Dean of Students has been empty for many years. At the end of last school year, I went to Mrs. Minick and told her I would want to help in any way I can. I felt like we needed to get one again, because when we previously had one, it worked well,” said David Widenhofer. 

Since the beginning of this school year, many students noticed a change in the handbook. The policies were updated, and some wording was changed. It seems to be more strict, straightforward, and more commonly referenced. 

“Mr. Widenhofer has asked our faculty to support the handbook policies, and now we have consistency. Many students have questioned the difference in this school year, and the background to that is that on the first week of meeting for teachers, he asked them for support in upholding the policies in the handbook,” said Principal Mrs. Minick.

Widenhofer has been teaching for 21 years now,  and has much knowledge in the education field. His first teaching position was all the way in Lesotho, Africa, at a school called Bokoro Junior Secondary School.

 “I think he is an excellent fit due to his prior experience in high school education. He was already the Dean of Students for three of his five years at North Catholic, so when he came to me I thought the idea was perfect,” said Minick. 

The staff and faculty all agree that this decision was one of great value. Students have also seen and mentioned the change. 

“Although this year is a bit different compared to my previous years, I wouldn’t consider the change to be completely bad. We definitely have more of a structure now,” said Morgan Kachur ‘26. 

Overall, Mr. Widenhofer has made a huge difference in taking on this new role, and everyone can see it. From AI policies to reinforcing the dress code, he has made sure to push us to be the best students we can here at St. Joe's.