Ben Scherer

The Red Knight mascot symbolizes our community’s core values: compassion, truth, and knowledge, but more than that, a true Red Knight exemplifies this ideology on the macro and micro scales. A Red Knight affects his community as a whole as well as the individual members who compose it. By nearly any definition, Ben Scherer is the epitome of a Red Knight.

Strong leadership plays a major role in Ben’s character, but his leadership style is not de ned by personal ego or power. Rather, he believes in the importance of a leader’s role in service to his community. “Someone who’s assertive and strong is a good leader, and someone who has a straight head and is always thinking ahead and reaching out to others. It gives all the members of this community someone to look up to,” Ben said.

Ben is the unofficial director of most Red Knight tailgates. He is a part of Link Crew, welcoming incoming freshmen and transfer students during their transition to BSM. He captains the varsity lacrosse team, and he lives his role as a servant leader through a rigorous dedication to volunteer work. This May, Ben was honored as a recipient of the Caring Youth Award, which recognizes teens within St. Louis Park who demonstrate extraordinary character and commitment to their service work. Ben was called upon by a close friend whose younger sister overcame childhood cancer to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, an organization which treats child cancer patients regardless of their ability to pay. Ben reaches out to businesses to share St. Jude’s mission and raises funds to cover the costs of the services that St. Jude families cannot cover.

Ben was nominated for the Caring Youth Award by the BSM theology department, which as a whole recognized his magnanimous energy. While this prestigious award commemorated Ben’s outstanding work within the BSM community, his impact extends beyond that which is officially recognized. Ben’s charisma echoes across the red and white tiles of the BSM hallways. “All of us teachers notice that if there is a kid left out in class, he very casually and very kindly says: ‘Hey! You can be in our group.’ Or he’ll even alert us if a student is left out, which we love, because we never want a Red Knight to feel left out,” Ben’s theology teacher Ms. Michelle LeBlanc said.

Ben fosters community among students everyday by demonstrating kindness and respect to all his classmates, regardless of the constrictive social structures of high school, because he recognizes that through a strong community, everyone achieves more. “I believe the teachers who I have built strong relationships with at BSM, along with the organizations I have partnered with in my service work, have helped shape my character and accomplishments,” Ben said.

The Red Knight is more than a mascot. It is a lifestyle, an ideal, that Ben has and will continue to embody throughout all his endeavors. “We always say ‘Once a Red Knight always a Red Knight,’ and I completely agree with that because we’re all here to help each other,” Ben said.