Moments at the Mount

Lady Rockets bring The Mount another volleyball title

Following their match against Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School on Oct. 10, the Lady Rockets hit the court Oct. 23-25 for the 2024 OSSAA 5A Volleyball State Tournament.

And The Mount kept rolling, capturing their third state title in four years.

In their 12th consecutive appearance at state, Shawnee, Oklahoma Christian School (OCS) and Booker T. Washington all fell to the Rockets in three straight sets during the tournament.

Members of the student body piled into the student section at Moore High School. Seniors lined the rail and took on the responsibility of leading other students present in cheering for the team. 

MacKenzi Bass, a veteran player on the team explained: “State was honestly easier than some of our games earlier in the season. We played some games in Texas that were way more difficult.” 

The team ended its season with a 39-1 record.

Beginning of the end

For many seniors on campus, they have already started becoming recognized for their accomplishments during their high school careers at Senior Nights that tie in to an applicable sport or club that the student is involved in.

That night arrived for three groups of students on Oct. 25: cross country/track, band and football. 

The senior night festivities were held shortly before the last home football game of the season with seniors and their families walking across the field from the south end zone. Many students have started to become sentimental to the idea of graduation, since most hadn’t let the thought sink in until their Senior Night events.

Preparing for the Lord’s Time

Before and following a brief hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, Mount St. Mary has collaborated with Bishop McGuinness and Cristo Rey OKC Catholic High Schools to host a women's and men’s retreat each semester known as “Kairos.”

Meaning “the Lord’s time,” the retreat is an opportunity every semester for junior and senior students to strengthen their relationship with God in addition to making new friends from the other schools and learning more about others’ life stories. 

The vice rector for the women’s retreat this semester, Maggie Brown, Class of 2025, was eager to share her Kairos experience and what she loves about being a student leader.

“I knew I wanted to lead Kairos my senior year after having an absolute blast last year as a junior retreatant,” she said. “With my busy tennis schedule in the spring, I wanted to make sure and lead in the fall so that I could actually make it a reality.” 

She went on to explain that her favorite part of Kairos was “simply the ability to step away from school and work for a little while and grow closer to the Lord, as well as the other girls who were there.”

For Brown, being a regular leader for Kairos wasn’t enough. She knew when she left her retreat last year that she wanted to give future retreatants the same amazing experience that she had.

A large reason for her beautiful retreat, she said, was all of the work that went on behind the scenes that she didn’t see as a retreatant. Stepping up and taking on the role of vice rector soon became a reality.

“While the rector directly helps the retreatants, my role as the vice rector is to help the retreatants by helping the leadership team,” she said. “A lot of the work that I will do during the course of the retreat, like changing setups in the room where we will host talks, will be largely unknown and unseen by the retreatants, but the work is necessary for the sake of having an effective retreat.” 

Necessary, indeed. 

Some final words of wisdom: “Whether it’s Kairos or another retreat, if you’ve never been to one or just haven’t gone on a retreat in a while, it may be time to go. More often than not, it’s not just listening to talks or praying for hours on end,” she emphasized. “Kairos was a lot more than I expected. If a chance presents itself, take it.”


Photo: The Lady Rockets were crowned state champions at the OSSAA Class 5A Volleyball Tournament. Photo Mount St. Mary Volleyball.