In honor of the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, we’re thrilled to welcome the swimmer and five-time Olympic medalist Missy Franklin onto the podcast. Maybe you remember Missy taking the Olympics by storm back in 2012 at the age of 17. What you might now know, though, is that Missy was a student at Regis Jesuit High School in Denver, Colorado during that Olympic run. She went back and graduated the year after her historic performance.

Host Mike Jordan Laskey asked Missy how the school community supported her during those wild weeks and months. She couldn’t have been happier to talk about Regis Jesuit and how the school stood by her and welcomed her back to class as her whole, genuine self – and not just a newly minted celebrity. Missy described finding her faith at Regis Jesuit, as she did not come from a religious background, and she shared stories from her time at school and what she’s been up to during her retirement from competitive swimming.

After the conversation with Missy, you’ll hear a piece written and read by Gretchen Kessler, one of Missy’s mentors at Regis Jesuit and the first principal of the school’s girls division. Regis Jesuit is the only Jesuit high school in the U.S. or Canada – and we think maybe in the world – that educates both young men and women but does so in distinctive, separate divisions. While students come together for extracurricular activities and other events, their core instruction is in single-sex classrooms. It’s a unique model that got its start in Denver 20 years ago. Gretchen retired from her role in recent years, but she still works at the school in alumni relations. It’s fascinating to hear her reflect on starting something new and bold two decades ago. It was an experiment that worked and has turned out hundreds of high-quality alumni like Missy Franklin herself.

Missy Franklin: https://www.missyfranklin.com/

Regis Jesuit High School: https://www.regisjesuit.com/

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

Our theme music by Kevin Laskey. Also featured in this episode is "These Moments Live," by Abstract Aprils, licensed through Audiio.com.

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